A Fairyland in Avalon and the Power of Cod

I came across this a few days ago in my preparation of a short presentation on colonial settlements. When looking through the available literature on the matter (not much on this side of the Atlantic), I found the archaeological record of an excavation in one particular English settlement in Newfoundland, which I deemed appropriate enough for my topic to present. I could have done something like Jamestown or St. Augustine, but somehow this one looked a bit better, especially as the latter ones are “the firsts” in many cases and I wanted something more ordinary. Also there are many accounts on the history of the colony available and the whole settlement was destroyed after about 80 years in a documented attack. Sometimes I wonder how the destruction of a community can be seen as a good thing at all, but for archaeologists it is actually a godsend,  as it means there is an undisturbed record of settlement available in this area, up to a rather precisely dated point in time. In this case: from the start of the settlement in 1621 to it’s destruction in 1696

So when going through all the records on the settlement and trying to put them into a reasonable presentation I almost didn’t notice one tiny detail about it: It was called Ferryland and set in the colony of Avalon.

A Fairyland? (putting all the changes in ortography aside for a second)

In Avalon?